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December 08, 2004
34 Objection to penalty
34 Objection to penalty
(1) A person to whom a notice under section 33 has been given may give notice to the Secretary of State that he objects to the penalty on one or both of the following grounds—
(a) that he is not liable to it;
(b) that the amount of the penalty is too high.
(2) The notice of objection—
(a) must set out the grounds of the objection and the objector’s reasons for objecting on those grounds; and
(b) must be given to the Secretary of State in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed period after the giving of the notice imposing the penalty.
(3) The Secretary of State must consider a notice of objection given in accordance with this section and may then—
(a) cancel the penalty;
(b) reduce it;
(c) increase it; or
(d) confirm it.
(4) The Secretary of State must not enforce a penalty in respect of which he has received a notice of objection before he has notified the objector of the outcome of his consideration of the objection.
(5) That notification of the outcome of his consideration must be given, in the prescribed manner—
(a) before the end of the prescribed period; or
(b) within such longer period as he may agree with the objector.
(6) Where, on consideration of an objection, the Secretary of State increases the penalty, he must give the objector a new penalty notice under section 33; and,where he reduces it, he must notify the objector of the reduced amount.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
Clause 34: Objection to penalty
178. Clause 34 sets out the steps to be taken if the recipient of the notice objects.
179. A recipient of a notice may give notice to the Secretary of State that he objects to the penalty. This must include what he objects to and why. This "notice of objection" must be made in the prescribed manner and before a date to be prescribed (subsections (1) and (2)).
180. If this procedure is complied with, the Secretary of State will determine whether or not to: cancel the penalty; reduce it; increase it; confirm it (subsection (3)). The Secretary of State must not enforce a penalty of which he has received a notice of objection, until he has considered the objection.
181. This notification of outcome must be given in the prescribed manner, by a prescribed date or if the objector agrees by the end of a longer period.
182. If, after consideration, the Secretary of State increases the penalty, a new notice must be issued under clause 33. If the penalty is reduced, the objector must be notified accordingly.
Posted by wtwu at December 8, 2004 03:07 AM
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Comments
I notice that the Sec. of State can increase the penalty if he gets an objection, I wonder if that will be used to penalise objectors?
Posted by: Thurstan at December 13, 2004 12:08 PM
It probably means that if you are fined, say £50, then the Home Secretary can muck around and increase the fine up to the statutory maximum c.f. Clause 33 (1) and (2)
There are a large number of circumstances in which you can get a civil fine, of up to £, of up to £2500, up to scale 5, which is currently £5000. These fines can be repeat for persistant refusniks or offenders.
The deliberate plan mentioned by David Blunkett is not to create "martyrs" who might go to jail on a matter of principle by not registering for the scheme. However, as has been the case with the "Poll Tax" Community Charge, if you fail to pay the repeated fines, ta court can send you to jail for contempt, get baillifs to seize your property etc.
The criminal penalties involving up to 6 months, or up to 51 weeks or up to 2 years, or up to 10 years in prison also have in some cases fines as well as or instead of. Presumably these criminal penalty fines could be unlimited.
The Home Office will also probably try to saddle you with massive legal costs if you try to challenge them in the Courts, whilst paying for theirs out of effectively unlimited taxpayers' funds.
Posted by: wtwu at December 18, 2004 05:52 PM